So, I've read through a ton of this thread, although not the whole 36 pages, an' I was wondering something. Dance skits aren't that interesting unless executed brilliantly, but what about individuals that go up and do a serious dance performance? Like, a solo during a walk on part of a costume contest?

I was actually considering something of this nature for myself. I'm sure many of you are familiar with Vocaloid and how popular cosplay is for it. Well, at the con I go to each year, I haven't seen a lot of Vocaloid cosplay, and most of what I have has been Miku. I was planning on making my own cosplay, from scratch, of the vocaloid Megurine Luka, and possibly doing a bit of her dance for her song "Luka Luka Night Fever." The dance is really fast, and seems at least, a tad difficult. When I watch the "live" performance of that song I always find myself in aww, and think it would be fun to do. Do you think this would fall into a "boring" and "overdone" sort of category?

I've finally read through it all! Now time for what I have to say on the matter...
From my own experience at cons, here are only some of the things I find extremely overdone...
Like said many times before, Dance offs in general. In hardly any situations do these actually look good, it's a really easy way to ruin a skit. Then another more specific thing is Sasuke, Gaara, or really any bunch of characters being all emo and sulking...(Get some original ideas please!) which then is followed by them dancing/ and or singing songs (didn't see that one coming!**sarcasm**)
Something I've seen a lot of is "the cake is a lie" reference....Is it getting old yet? Or has it just not been worn out? That's something I would consider overdone, along with a whole bunch of other tiresome memes and viral crap.
And lastly the most overdone thing, is random, poorly thought out skits. I mean, that's what really matters isn't it...the work put in? Really anything could be overdone, but if excuted, and well thought out, could turn out very nice. People are tired of seeing these (to put it bluntly) bad skits. They're a common occurence...people thinking they can just go onstage a perform a skit after a day or two of practice. The mistake has been made so many times, isn't it time for them to just stop fooling around onstage, and actually put some real thought, and time into a skit? Something that will never be overdone is a well thought out, all in all good skit. I'm not saying everyone is a stand up comedian, or an expert actor, but you can tell when someone's put a little effort in, it really goes a long way!

One type of skit I'm tired of seeing is just random dancing to some J-pop song. People just going on stage and dancing (poorly mind you) who don't even appear to be in cosplay. I'm not even sure what is the point to skits like that. It just seemed like you and your friend made up a dance and decided to preform it during a masquerade....I don't get it.

Yes, I find that humor is something that should really, really have thought put into it. I think so many people go up and perform an exhausting catastrophe because they don't realize that at an ANIME CONVENTION, just looking and acting outrageous isn't going to shock anyone. ^^;

My group and I aren't really familiar with 90% of the anime series that are popular from 1 year to the next, so mindless what-ifs aren't too exciting to us (because we don't know the characters!)

@Kawaiichibiz: The one skit that REALLY impressed me at Otakon '11 was this really amazing fan dance someone did. It was very serious, but so wonderful to watch. :3

I think that, in making a quality skit, sophistication is key. Also having friends who will HONESTLY tell you whether or not you sound horrible on the flute.

I'm kind of sick of seeing dance-off Princess Tutu skits. I mean I love PTutu but just because it's got a lot of ballet doesn't give you the right to have a random dance-off for no reason.

I kind of don't really want to see just a random dance for Princess Tutu skits. I love ballet and all but if you get on the stage and music plays and there's no explanation for you dancing then it's pretty but has no meaning to me. It also irks me when these skits win awards....
But this goes for everything, really. Dance skits that don't have explanation happen way too often and I think that's why everyone hates them.

So I cannot have Orochimaru randomly jamming to Adele's Rolling in the Deep with huge headphones on and Kabuto pretending to knock on a door, open it, stare at the Sannin dancing to the song only he can hear? ; 3 ; (Mind you people would be in the background with cardboard cuts outs with words like OPENING THE DOOR, KNOCKING, BLANKLESS STARE)

-enter awkward pause here-

Then somehow while trying to explain to Kabuto what he was doing to protect his pride, Kabuto just randomly does the Endo Tensei Handsigns, and changing the song into Thriller to where Sasuke just walks in like o_O and just ends with the line from the Lion King where Simba says to Scar "You're so werid." Orochimaru would respond, "You have no idea."

So, I've read through a ton of this thread, although not the whole 36 pages, an' I was wondering something. Dance skits aren't that interesting unless executed brilliantly, but what about individuals that go up and do a serious dance performance? Like, a solo during a walk on part of a costume contest?

I was actually considering something of this nature for myself. I'm sure many of you are familiar with Vocaloid and how popular cosplay is for it. Well, at the con I go to each year, I haven't seen a lot of Vocaloid cosplay, and most of what I have has been Miku. I was planning on making my own cosplay, from scratch, of the vocaloid Megurine Luka, and possibly doing a bit of her dance for her song "Luka Luka Night Fever." The dance is really fast, and seems at least, a tad difficult. When I watch the "live" performance of that song I always find myself in aww, and think it would be fun to do. Do you think this would fall into a "boring" and "overdone" sort of category?

I saw one Luka performance, where she decided to sing a song herself. It's not that she was horrible, but let's say that there's a reason you need to be talented/educated to do it right. At least I think so. I guess we would of survived if it was just a minute long, but she did the whole 5 minute song... so most of us were just cringing the whole time.
For Vocaloid skits/dances, just dance and pretend sing to the original song. I mean no offense if you think you're a great singer, but honestly it's really hard to sit through if you're singing kareoke. Specially since the character is a virtual Japanese singer, while you're not Japanese and singing a random English song. (But please god, do NOT try to sing like the vocaloid themselves. My ears would disinigrate off.)

Doing the dances, accuratly, would be pretty awesome. I enjoy watching groups go in sync with each other and dance the correct dance to the song. I personally don't mind seeing these, but I can see how they can get repetitive if they are done poorly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viviane_neechan

Yes, I find that humor is something that should really, really have thought put into it. I think so many people go up and perform an exhausting catastrophe because they don't realize that at an ANIME CONVENTION, just looking and acting outrageous isn't going to shock anyone. ^^;

My group and I aren't really familiar with 90% of the anime series that are popular from 1 year to the next, so mindless what-ifs aren't too exciting to us (because we don't know the characters!)

I agree with this. I can understand how making inside jokes of the anime can be hilarious, but only to the people who watch and understand it. There is so much out there today that unless it's a very well known and loved anime, doing inside jokes won't reach most people. If you do a comedy skit, try to play to a more general audience. It not only gets everyone laughing but also the ones that don't get the specific jokes to not feel left out.

I have not done any skits myself (outside of childrens ministry) but there's a good reason why I don't go to mascarades anymore, and terrible skits is one of them. XP

[font="Century Gothic"]I agree with this. I can understand how making inside jokes of the anime can be hilarious, but only to the people who watch and understand it. There is so much out there today that unless it's a very well known and loved anime, doing inside jokes won't reach most people. If you do a comedy skit, try to play to a more general audience. It not only gets everyone laughing but also the ones that don't get the specific jokes to not feel left out.

^This is the biggest sin of skits that I don't find appealing . Even an anime with a large following like Hetalia should go light on the inside jokes. Because not everyone knows that America eating all the time is a running gag on the show. It's really hard for me to pay attention to a skit that is 5 minutes long when I don't understand what's going on due to having not watched the anime.

An example of the best way to do it is to make the joke subtle, almost in the background, like in the in Star Trek movie, when Kirk is in the bedroom with the green skinned woman. This was a reference to a person from the original show that trek fans easily got. However people who never had seen star trek didn't miss out on much because she was simply a background character meant to show Kirk was a ladies man and that there are different species.

If I were doing a Hetalia skit I would probably try to parody something current with a large audience, like "Hetalia Shores" and make the whole thing a Jersey Shore parody with a couple of inside jokes thrown in, but mostly catering to reality tv show jokes that most people will get.

__________________
People say they like irony, but nobody wants to pay for it.

Yes. So, so overdone. Especially people in random cosplay, lip-synching entire LG songs, or some badly done dance to Bad Romance (even worse if they try and sing it themselves at the same time).

One BIG problem I see with a lot of musical/comedic skits is just... people take it way, way too long. A minute or two is fine, but when you hit the five minute mark, most people have just made it aggravating.

Seriously, when in doubt, short and sweet is infinitely better than a joke being dragged out. The audience at a Masquerade has a tiny, tiny attention span.

Yes. So, so overdone. Especially people in random cosplay, lip-synching entire LG songs, or some badly done dance to Bad Romance (even worse if they try and sing it themselves at the same time).

One BIG problem I see with a lot of musical/comedic skits is just... people take it way, way too long. A minute or two is fine, but when you hit the five minute mark, most people have just made it aggravating.

Seriously, when in doubt, short and sweet is infinitely better than a joke being dragged out. The audience at a Masquerade has a tiny, tiny attention span.

Pretty much what the last few posters said. I've said before that I really don't get the mentality that masquerade skits should all try to be funny, and the issue with inside jokes is a part of that. Jokes that require a good knowledge of a particular fandom are going to tank to people who aren't part of that group, simply because they don't understand them.